Chapter 17 part 6

"No, dummy," Carlos snapped. "The evasion jets aren't even firing."

Kivi apparently didn't like being called a dummy any more than the rest of us. She kicked him in the butt, and he caught her foot. He tried to twist it, but she snapped it back and threw a punch.

"Hey, hey," I said. "Let's get our gear on. This is for real."

"Oh yeah?" Carlos asked. "You knew, right? Let me guess: the date marked on your calendar? Or did Graves text you personally?"

"You know what, Carlos?" I said. "You're an even bigger asshole in the middle of the night."

Everyone laughed and loudly agreed. Carlos grumbled, but he shut up and put his gear together.

Five minutes later, we were jogging down the passages to the tubes. We shot down, one at a time. The arrows were lit yellow on the floor and walls—even the ceiling. Our squad number was easy to follow.

I knew long before we got there where we were headed. The team chit-chatted around me as we moved quickly toward the lower decks.

"It's not another drop?"

"Can't be."

"This is yellow-level…that could only mean we're boarding a lifter."

"At least we don't have to get fired out of the cannons again."

In general, the group was happy it wasn't going to be a hot drop. If the LZ was clean enough to allow a lifter to land, it had to be relatively safe.

We were herded aboard a lifter and clamped into place. Rows of troops faced one another, but few of us made eye-contact. Not even Carlos was up for any new jokes. We were tired and worried.
The troops had been elated when they'd pulled the legion off Cancri-9. My team had been left behind, of course, but most had seen it as a narrow escape. The assignment had been rough, and no one wanted to stick around to see just how many lizards they would throw at us the next day.

Now, however, that feeling of relief was over. We weren't going home. We weren't even going to another planet, another assignment. We were going back down onto a planet that had turned utterly hostile.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. The lifter shook, rattled and squeaked. I smelled hot metal and strange chemicals. Cold air and hot vapors chased over us as different parts of the ship vented and adjusted themselves. It was nothing like the luxury ride a passenger ship provided back home.

My head lolled, and I nearly fell asleep. Off and on, my chin touched my chest and woke me up.

Chapter 17 part 5

"What the holy hell do you think old Drusus is up to, McGill?" Carlos asked me loudly.

Everyone looked at me. They'd seen my special trip to the observation tower, my day off from exercises and my trips to the blue level. They knew something odd was going on with me, but they didn't know what it was. In particular, Carlos was going mad with curiosity.

"Carlos is right," said Kivi, jumping into the pack. She'd taken every opportunity to snipe at me since our break-up. She wasn't too fond of Natasha, either. "You know something. I want to hear it. We've got a right to know."

"No," I told them both, shaking my head, "you're in Varus, remember? None of us have rights of any kind. But it doesn't matter because I don't know where we're going. Even if I did, I wouldn't be at liberty to say."

"You're such a kiss-up all of a sudden," Carlos complained. "You were such a tough-guy down in the steel tunnels. What did they do to you? Do you feel bad inside now?"

I actually did feel rather off-balance, but I wasn't going to admit it to him. I knew that Carlos and the rest were half-joking and half-serious trying to browbeat information out of me. I struggled not to get angry with them.

"I'm fine," I said. "But it's time for you to shut up unless you want a fresh lesson in hand-to-hand."

I'd started off untrained, but over the last six months I'd become known as one of the best with primitive weapons. Right now I didn't feel good, but they didn't know that. No one wanted to challenge me after a grueling day on the field. They broke up their circle and wandered off grumbling.

All of them, that was, except for Natasha. She lingered and stared at me with narrowed eyes.
"What? Are you suspecting the worst, too?" I asked her.

"You know something," she said. "I can tell that. We all can. You really don't want to tell me?"

I wanted to all of a sudden. "What's in it for me?" I asked.

She smirked and gave me a small kiss. I reached for more, and she pushed me back.

"I'm not Kivi," she said.

I laughed. "Okay, sorry. I can't tell you anything, but I suspect we'll all find out very soon."

We left it at that and headed for our bunks. I'd been asleep for less than an hour when a whooping alarm went off. It was the emergency klaxons. Bewildered and half asleep, I tumbled out onto the steel deck, scrambling with my kit.

All around me, recruits were doing the same.

"Is the ship under attack?" Kivi asked.

Chapter 17 part 4

Graves lifted an admonishing finger. "Never underestimate an opponent, McGill. If they had all their credits dumped into weaponry the way we do…just think of it. What if the saurian waves you faced had been as well-equipped as we were? What would have happened?"

"I don't know. They may have wiped us."

He nodded slowly. "Exactly. That was their plan from the start. They gave us a phony contract and we signed on. Then they cheated by fielding, as you so eloquently put it, 'endless waves of lizards'. Now, they're claiming victory with the Galactics. Worse, you personally managed to kill the chief Inspector, the very individual that will decide the outcome of this territorial struggle, twice."

I stared at him. My eyes were squinched up and my teeth were bared in a grimace. I felt slightly sick, and I didn't think it was due to the bad regrow this time.

"Yes," Graves said, smiling at me grimly. "I can see now that you fully grasp the situation and your part in it. Now, kindly get the hell out of my tower. I'm already regretting letting them revive you at all."

I headed for the door, and I didn't look back.

Fortunately, I was excused from the knife-fighting exercises for the day. I wasn't really up to it. I was feeling better by dinner, and by the next day, as the ship began lurching and firing maneuvering jets, my stomach was operating fully again.

But I wasn't happy. I knew, possibly more than any other recruit in the legion, what was really going on. We weren't here to guard some mining complex. We were here to prove we could outfight an equivalent number of lizards—and from what I'd seen, the enemy was more than willing to cheat in this regard throwing at us ten times our weight in lizards. I had no idea how many dinos we'd killed thus far, but it had to be more than ten thousand all together. Maybe the number was twice that high.

The problem was the enemy had the resources of an entire planet to draw upon. They had millions of lives to spend. We had a finite number of men and guns. Our only advantages were in equipment and know-how. We had professional, well-armed troops—troops that could come back to life and fight again, over and over. It was a grim thought, and I felt that a grim battle was surely coming.

Our first advantage, which our tribune was hastily employing, was maneuverability. Using Corvus, we could come down wherever we wanted and face the enemy on our own terms. I was sure the saurians below us were watching closely wondering what our next move was going to be. Aboard ship speculation was rampant.

Chapter 17 part 3

"Well then," I said. "I thank you for reviving me. Am I free to go, sir?"

"Sadly, no. I have to have your word that you won't speak of this incident to anyone. You won't bring up Galactics or being executed—none of it. If you do, your data will be lost, and your next revive will never happen. Do I make myself clear, McGill?"

"Like starlight, sir."

"Good. Now, head to Blue Deck. You look like shit. Get yourself some chemical help. We'll be redeploying tomorrow, and I need every man in fighting shape."

I paused, stunned.

"Redeploying? Where, sir?"

He frowned. "I'm not accustomed to being questioned by recruits, McGill. Don't take our little conversation as some kind of comradery. We're not best friends."

"Of course not. But I thought we were leaving Cancri-9. I thought we'd given up on this mission."

Graves laughed at me. The laugh was an unpleasant one.

"Given up? No, Recruit. This war has just begun. Legion Varus always triumphs. It does not give up when Earth's territory is threatened. We were tricked into this contract but aren't done yet. The Galactics are observing—as you know intimately. Before this is over, we'll have proven to them yet again who the best fighters are."

I was confused. I had no real idea what he was talking about. I knew that Legion Varus often fought other mercenary companies to demonstrate we were the best, but so far, I hadn't seen any evidence of this occurring on Cancri-9. All we'd fought were packs of angry natives.

"One last question, sir," I said. "If you don't mind."

"I do mind. But ask it anyway."

"Who are the enemy? What mercenary company are we fighting against?"

He looked at me in surprise. "Really, McGill? I thought you might have figured that out by now. Maybe that regrow did scramble your brains."

"But sir, we've fought nothing but saurians since we got here. Endless waves of lizards. The only other alien we encountered was the Galactic inspector himself."

"Endless waves of lizards…" he said, smiling tightly. "You should be a poet, McGill."

I thought about that for a second. "Are you saying that saurians themselves are the enemy? That they want to challenge us for supremacy in this region of space? Are they trying to form their own legions?"

"I doubt they'll call them that. They tend to fight in hordes. More numbers, more meat, less armament—but you have to admit, they are pretty effective."

"But why, sir? They have their steel, their minerals to sell. Isn't that easier for them?"

He shrugged. "How the hell should I know why they've decided to try this takeover? Maybe the market on steel has crashed. Maybe they've lost a number of accounts and are hurting for credits. Whatever the case, I think they've been working toward this for a long time. Otherwise, why are they our very best clients? Why so many missions? To observe and learn, that's my guess."

I didn't know what to say. "They are warlike, primitive by alien standards. They don't even have a worldwide government. Maybe mercenary work would suit them. Do you really think they can beat us? We slaughtered them out there."

Chapter 17 part 2

"Because it wouldn't have been right," he said. "You did your job well. You led your team out of an impossible situation."

I almost believed him. But I waited quietly, staring, just in case.

Graves returned my gaze evenly then he shrugged after a moment. "That's not the only thing, naturally."

Naturally, I thought to myself.

He turned back to the practice fields. The teams were being issued combat knives—sharp ones. They flashed with edges like white lines in the bright sunlight that streamed in from the dome overhead. I winced as one recruit opened up another's arm. There would be plenty of nu-skin sprayed over open wounds tonight.

"The real reason was that Harris and I owe our lives to you."

I looked at him in surprise.

"How's that, sir?"

"We were at the bottom of the mine and cut off. Several teams never made it out of that mine, McGill. Yours did. When you made your report—that changed everything."

I began to put it together. I nodded.

"When I made my report they had confirmation of your death, right?" I asked. "At that point, they authorized your revival. So, they were holding off on doing it until you came out or were confirmed dead?"

He nodded slowly. "That's right. And with the legion leaving Cancri-9, that would have been it for all of us if you hadn't made it out. They'd keep the data, but never make our copies. Perma-death for all."

I understood now why he was impressed by my efforts to survive and why he'd felt the urge to go the extra mile to keep me breathing. If I hadn't made it out, we'd all have been done for.

"Sir?" I asked. "What will the Galactics do if they find out I'm still alive?"

"They won't."

"I know that sir. But, hypothetically?"

"Hypothetically? I don't know. I don't know how connected that inspector is or how pissed off he might be. I would guess we'd all be permed officially. Possibly the entire legion would be unloaded on a rock and nuked. Hell, I don't know."

I stared at him. "That wouldn't be right. I remember Galactic Law from school. It's quite egalitarian. The Galactics are no more—"

By this time, Graves was laughing. "You read their laws? Their treaties? The deals they signed with Earth? That's grand. You should read a little more of history, son. Those who rule don't take insults lightly. They bend the rules now and then, and when they do, they always bend them in their favor. It's a natural part of life, I think."

I shut up because I realized I didn't know what I was talking about. Graves had been out here in space for decades. Who was I to lecture him on the way the universe was supposed to work?

Chapter 17 part 1

I shuddered and found myself at the base of the observation tower. I opened it and discovered a spiraling staircase inside. I was huffing by the time I reached the top, which wasn't normal for me.

The top of the tower was air conditioned and possessed its own snack and drink counter. There were five comfortable chairs circling the room. Graves was in one of them, and he and I were alone in the room.

He didn't look at me when I entered. He was staring outside at the training field watching the squads as they broke up and began to spar with one another. There would be no live-fire exercises today. It was all light exercise and hand-to-hand. Even the officers knew when the troops were tired of dying and needed a break.

"Mind if I help myself to a glass, sir?" I asked him.

He waved his hand over his shoulder at me. I took this as approval. I poured myself something fizzy and sweet. It eased my sweating body when I drank it.

"You feeling all right, McGill?" he asked finally.

"Never better."

He chuckled. "You're a tough bastard. I like that. I really do."

"You've got a funny way of showing your love, if you don't mind me saying, Centurion."

He spun around in his chair which swiveled without a squeak. "You want to know why you're up here?"

"So I don't fall on my face on the field and give it all away?"

His smile faltered. "You're angry? I'm surprised, but I guess I shouldn't be. Gratitude is a rare component in most people's personalities."

I blinked at him, then frowned. "You want a big thanks for having me executed?"

"You weren't executed—at least not permanently."

"It felt real enough, sir."

"I think you need to keep things in perspective, Recruit. I didn't have to bring you back. I took a major risk in doing so. I'll have you know that Primus Turov was against it."

That bitch, I thought to myself. But I nodded. "Sorry if I don't feel like kissing anyone's ring today. They told me when I came out it was a bad grow."

Graves frowned. "A bad grow? Why didn't they recycle and do it right?"

I wanted to shiver at the idea of being recycled. Right then, for the first time, I wondered how often that happened. How often did a man miraculously return to life, only to be killed again instantly and brought back yet again? I bet they threw those little slices of our memories away by not copying our minds when such dark events occurred.

I sipped my fizzy sugar water and stared out at the practice field. "They didn't want to risk a regrow. The bio said I should be all right in a few days."

He nodded. "Well enough, then. With any luck, the Galactics will never bring it up again. You were executed promptly with one of their own as a witness. Fortunately, they can't tell us apart nor do they track individual IDs for us. To them, we're like fish thrashing in a vast pond or rabbits nibbling in an endless field. There are billions of us, and we don't matter as individuals."

I looked at him seriously. "Why did you bring me back, sir? It was less of a risk to leave well enough alone."